Brendan Rodgers

[Tee]

If by that you mean the way Rodgers has abandoned the diamond formation and the fast attacking play of last season and gone back to stodgy crappy sideways football I agree with you.

Getting the right strikers in to replace the three goalless amigos will hopefully change the way Rodgers sets the team up and we might get back to that great footy we saw in 2013/14.

Are FSG going to back him with the kind of money he needs to do that though?

I think we can recoup around £25m by selling Balotelli and Borini, so someone like Reus or Higuain should be attainable (obviously we will not pay the types of salary they would want though).

[Bender]

Are FSG going to back him with the kind of money he needs to do that though?

I think we can recoup around £25m by selling Balotelli and Borini, so someone like Reus or Higuain should be attainable (obviously we will not pay the types of salary they would want though).

After spending £100 million and lets not forget the £100million Dalgish spent,there's no way BR will get any funds unless he sells players,
Who of that caliber will come without Champions League?or you do what Utd have done sign some class players and pay the wages and hope you get 4th as a minimum

[tanner]

I actually think he got it right yesterday.

It was a very rare opportunity, a massive game, but massive in the showbiz sense, and one that every player wanted to be part of, yet it wasn't really important. As much as I'd like it to be otherwise, we are not really in a position to compete with Real, the most important games for us are the next two champions league games, which we are capable of winning. We've been pretty poor of late, nobody in our starting 11 has really played well so what better game to drop them and show them that they need to belt up than an away tie in Madrid?

I just hope he has the balls now to take those who performed last night into Saturdays tie and lay down the gauntlet to the others.

[frank the tank]

I actually think he got it right yesterday.

It was a very rare opportunity, a massive game, but massive in the showbiz sense, and one that every player wanted to be part of, yet it wasn't really important. As much as I'd like it to be otherwise, we are not really in a position to compete with Real, the most important games for us are the next two champions league games, which we are capable of winning. We've been pretty poor of late, nobody in our starting 11 has really played well so what better game to drop them and show them that they need to belt up than an away tie in Madrid?

I just hope he has the balls now to take those who performed last night into Saturdays tie and lay down the gauntlet to the others.

i said it before the Madrid game that i hope he played the team he plays (exception being i picked Lambert instead of Borini) - i didnt think he would play that team though to be honest.

I would have preferred to be stuffed by Madrid 5-0 and get a draw against chelsea than any sort of result v Madrid and a loss to chelsea. As it so happens, we played really well in Madrid with the squaddies......go into the chelsea game hopefully a bit fresher than them physically but also with a little bit of confidence.

If we beat Chelsea on Saturday, then Brendan has played a blinder.

If we lose though - especially if he puts the players that were present v Newcastle - then he could be in the ****....

[danperkins]

I actually think he got it right yesterday.

It was a very rare opportunity, a massive game, but massive in the showbiz sense, and one that every player wanted to be part of, yet it wasn't really important. As much as I'd like it to be otherwise, we are not really in a position to compete with Real, the most important games for us are the next two champions league games, which we are capable of winning. We've been pretty poor of late, nobody in our starting 11 has really played well so what better game to drop them and show them that they need to belt up than an away tie in Madrid?

I just hope he has the balls now to take those who performed last night into Saturdays tie and lay down the gauntlet to the others.

[fred_plasticine]

I actually think he got it right yesterday.

It was a very rare opportunity, a massive game, but massive in the showbiz sense, and one that every player wanted to be part of, yet it wasn't really important. As much as I'd like it to be otherwise, we are not really in a position to compete with Real, the most important games for us are the next two champions league games, which we are capable of winning. We've been pretty poor of late, nobody in our starting 11 has really played well so what better game to drop them and show them that they need to belt up than an away tie in Madrid?

I just hope he has the balls now to take those who performed last night into Saturdays tie and lay down the gauntlet to the others.

the reaction in the english press was predictably brilliant. they yet again claim the phoney moral high grounds. Oh, and all the wounded english pride and the lack of respect. pretty unfortunate that rodger's british otherwise they could have added their favourite prejudiced lines that "you don't do that in england" and that "he doesn't understand english football".
i like rodgers, he doesn't give a ****.

[DannyMan2006]

I'm bemused by a lot of posts on here. Two seasons ago BR was under fire for his 'death by football' possession tactics that didn't suit the players we had. So he changed to play to the strengths of the players we had resulting in totally unexpected league position. This season we have not had the two lynch pins of that system so he's changed the system again to what he thinks should work. However it hasn't for some reason unknown to us who don't have 24/7 access to what goes on behind the scenes. Last night a lot of our so called first choice were left on the bench, the same players that have consistently underperformed so far and been roundly criticised on this forum and what happens.? BR is slated for picking other players and waving a 'white flag', yet whilst the performance was nothing to get over excited about it was an improvement on much we have seen this season. The guy can't win!


Posted from Est1892.co.uk App for Android

Your last sentence is the crux of the issue. The guy can't win. If you're not winning games at this football club you will get criticism. Each club has an expectation level, most are unrealistic. Last season Rodgers took a team that had previously finished behind Everton for two years running and took us the closest we've been to the title since our last victory. He smashed through expectation levels.

Last year Spurs spent over £100m and Rodgers himself said that if a club spends that much you should be challenging for the title. This year we've done a Spurs in that we sold our best player and spent a huge wad to compensate. Realistically, our expectation levels should have dropped.

During the time of the Suarez sale and big spend, I listened to a podcast by The Anfield Wrap. They posed a question to all of their contributors - Would you accept 84 points if offered it right now? I may not exactly remember the points total, but it was basically a guarantee of finishing second or third. Now I would say many of them who contribute are very knowledgable. But the decision was split. Many felt consolidation would be perfect and would accept that. The other lot said no. They wanted to fight for the title and they thought we had a very good chance, so why settle for less? We are Liverpool Football Club etc etc.

This to me perfectly shows the raised levels of expectation. And that is what Rodgers is battling. He had created a rod for his own back by getting fans to believe again. Last year we hoped for 4th. This is our first season back in the CL for 5 years, yet many of us now believe we have a devine right to 4th. Despite us selling without question one of the best 5 footballers in the world. 3rd best in my eyes.

But that's football for you. I think we should back Rodgers all the way. He deserves it after last season. But he knows far better than me that if results don't go our way he'll be taking **** from all angles.

[Carras_Shin_Pads]

Your last sentence is the crux of the issue. The guy can't win. If you're not winning games at this football club you will get criticism. Each club has an expectation level, most are unrealistic. Last season Rodgers took a team that had previously finished behind Everton for two years running and took us the closest we've been to the title since our last victory. He smashed through expectation levels.

Last year Spurs spent over £100m and Rodgers himself said that if a club spends that much you should be challenging for the title. This year we've done a Spurs in that we sold our best player and spent a huge wad to compensate. Realistically, our expectation levels should have dropped.

During the time of the Suarez sale and big spend, I listened to a podcast by The Anfield Wrap. They posed a question to all of their contributors - Would you accept 84 points if offered it right now? I may not exactly remember the points total, but it was basically a guarantee of finishing second or third. Now I would say many of them who contribute are very knowledgable. But the decision was split. Many felt consolidation would be perfect and would accept that. The other lot said no. They wanted to fight for the title and they thought we had a very good chance, so why settle for less? We are Liverpool Football Club etc etc.

This to me perfectly shows the raised levels of expectation. And that is what Rodgers is battling. He had created a rod for his own back by getting fans to believe again. Last year we hoped for 4th. This is our first season back in the CL for 5 years, yet many of us now believe we have a devine right to 4th. Despite us selling without question one of the best 5 footballers in the world. 3rd best in my eyes.

But that's football for you. I think we should back Rodgers all the way. He deserves it after last season. But he knows far better than me that if results don't go our way he'll be taking **** from all angles.

Good post!

[DannyMan2006]

After spending £100 million and lets not forget the £100million Dalgish spent,there's no way BR will get any funds unless he sells players,
Who of that caliber will come without Champions League?or you do what Utd have done sign some class players and pay the wages and hope you get 4th as a minimum

Let's get this straight. We spent a lot of cash but we also recouped a fair bit in sales. And that's without even considering all the money on wages we got back. We also have a fair bit of cash in the bank. This was the year when we started to get a load of cash from sponsors as well as the CL money. That's on top of the money in sales. By everyone's estimations we had a lot of cash left in the kitty this summer.

And if you want that CL cash cow, which goes up AGAIN next year, then you do have to play the market a bit and speculate to accumulate. We definitely won't be silly of course, but we will spend what we have left. I've heard jokers say they may hold the cash and not back Rodgers, as in saving the money for a possible new manager in the summer. I'm sorry but that's crap. Even if he doesn't finish top 4, he would definitely get another season.

We will spend in January, if the players are available of course. They weren't in the summer, so there's nothing to say they will be in January either which in general is a more difficult market.

[Alex]

He had created a rod for his own back by getting fans to believe again. Last year we hoped for 4th. This is our first season back in the CL for 5 years, yet many of us now believe we have a devine right to 4th.

That is something that resonates with me. We dont have a divine right. I could give you a list as long as my arm why we should be top 4, but that means nothing.

When we finished 8th or whatever the other year, expectations couldn't have been lower. Now, I dont think going into this season they could have been higher. A bit of moderation somewhere in the middle would be nice.

[Pablo]

Does anyone really think we have a "divine right" to get fourth? I certainly don't. It was always going to be a tall order this season. No Luis and with our rivals all strengthening massively.

Everyone knew prior to the start of the season we were behind City and Chelsea. I think people us expected us to fight it out for 3/4th with Arsenal and Man United. It looked like we had the squad to make that a realistic expectation.

Anyone who thought we had a divine right was a bit of a bellend really and should be ignored.

[DannyMan2006]

Does anyone really think we have a "divine right" to get fourth? I certainly don't. It was always going to be a tall order this season. No Luis and with our rivals all strengthening massively.

Everyone knew prior to the start of the season we were behind City and Chelsea. I think people us expected us to fight it out for 3/4th with Arsenal and Man United.

Anyone who thought we had a divine right was a bit of a bellend really and should be ignored.

When I say that I mean that most thought it wouldn't be an issue. In that 4th would be the lowest we'd come and so as such accepting a position of one or two places higher was pointless.

They saw the question in a different light. As in risk free. To them the question sounded like "You're guaranteed 4th, will you accept 2nd or 3rd or would you risk going for 1st?". I would hope that everyone under those circumstances would gamble for first. Why not? But of course it doesn't work like that.

In fairness, I think most started coming down to earth when we were poor against Southampton and had failed to adequately replace Suarez.

[Alex]

Does anyone really think we have a "divine right" to get fourth? I certainly don't. It was always going to be a tall order this season. No Luis and with our rivals all strengthening massively.

Everyone knew prior to the start of the season we were behind City and Chelsea. I think people us expected us to fight it out for 3/4th with Arsenal and Man United. It looked like we had the squad to make that a realistic expectation.

Anyone who thought we had a divine right was a bit of a bellend really and should be ignored.

Maybe not divine right. But lots seem to think we are owed or deserving of it I think.

[ronanm]

Well, even if you lose one of the best forwards on earth it's not unreasonable to think, having spent £110m (or whatever) on top of having all the other players who nearly won the league last season, that 4th should be the minimum.

[BigChief]

With Utd changing yet another manager and famously still not buying defenders/midfielders (decent ones anyway), coupled with Martinez's well documented second season syndrome and Spurs downward spiral into their own ass it was fair to feel safe that we should be finishing 4th.

That does not equal divine right though, and I don't believe anyone here is showing that. When all the teams (and that includes Arsenal and maybe City) crawl out of this unexplained weird period in the league all the above teams will still have those questions but we 'should' come out better due to a stable experienced manager and return of a key goalscorer.